Advice needed on upgrading server with new drives

[JWGlide]

Not a complete newbie here but not a power user either so if these questions have been answered previously, I appreciate a link and will go find the answers there.
If not -

Currently running v11.2 with (4) 4TB WD Red drives in ZFS2 configuration.

I bought (4) new 8TB drives to add storage to server (not yet installed). I understand that simply swapping the drives won't automatically make the pool larger, but not sure how to expand the size of the pool safely when adding larger drives.
The other thing I considered is that my network and needs have changed a bit and I've gotten a better understanding of how the NAS can work and would best suit my new needs. So I was thinking about starting fresh, going through the setup of the NAS all over again to best reflect how I'd like it to work. What would be the best method to migrate the data if I chose that route? For clarity, what I mean is -
I want to take all the data on my NAS off of it, then wipe my NAS and start fresh with the larger drives, and put the data back onto the new system.
I have a drive that the data could be moved to off of the NAS if necessary while the new NAS is set up.
Best way to manage this kind of project?
TIA

 

[Redcoat]

Are you still using your 2018 Mini (perhaps with a new motherboard)?

If so, you're limited to 4 drive bays, so you can either do a one-by-one replace (and the full 4x8TB will be available after the resilver of the last drive) or use an external drive to offload your data from the existing drives, replace them with the new, install a new OS version and transfer your data back.

And a quick check, "just in case": You did make sure that your new drives are not SMR drives (that don't do well in TrueNAS)? AFAIK there are only a few at 8TB that are SMR - but you want CMR drives for sure.

 

[JWGlide]

No I am on a 2020 mini
Intel Atom C2750 @2.40ghz (8 cor) - 16gb RAM
Still limited to 4 drive bays

I’m still not sure if I want to move to the newer OS, I haven’t yet researched the new versions in depth and the one that I’m on has been working well for me, but it may be worth it.
I have an adapter that can go from the drive to usb, would connecting it to the NAS be the best way to move the data? Or connect it to a computer on the networks and go through the long process of transferring the data way ?

 

[Davvo]

Currently running v11.2 with (4) 4TB WD Red drives in ZFS2 configuration.

RAIDZ2

My suggestion is to export your current (old) pool, update your system/nuke everything on the boot pool, import the old pool, replace one drive after the other. No fiddling with external drives or adapters.

 

[JWGlide]

RAIDZ2

My suggestion is to export your current (old) pool, update your system/nuke everything on the boot pool, import the old pool, replace one drive after the other. No fiddling with external drives or adapters.

Thank you.
Is there a step by step guide for this? Export it to where, if no to an external drive?
I understand this may be a simple or stupid question, and appreciate your patience.

 

[Davvo]

You can follow the manual of v11.

10. Storage — FreeNAS®11.3-U5 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

Do not destroy anything, we are simply telling the drives "we are moving you to another location".

You can entirely skip this process if you just want to replace the drives.

 

[JWGlide]

Ok. So if understand correctly-
I can export the pool and it will held on one of the existing 4Tb drives?
Then I would remove the drive, rebuild the system with the new OS and the 8Tb drives as though it were a new-off-the-shelf system.
So now to import the pool, I do what?

 

[Davvo]

You exported your old pool, composed of whatever drives it had.
You bring back those same drives and import back into the system.

10. Storage — FreeNAS®11.3-U5 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

Then you can replace the drives.

10. Storage — FreeNAS®11.3-U5 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

Or if you are using a more recent version:

Importing Pools

Describes how to import storage pools on TrueNAS CORE.

www.truenas.com

 

[JWGlide]

Now I understand, thank you. When installing the new OS and building the “new” NAS out, would I leave the drives out?
I don’t recall exactly, I’d have to go look but I think my system shipped with the OS on the system already, possibly on the motherboard, I’d have to check and verify that. The OS is not running on a thumb drive, that’s for sure.

 

[Davvo]

Now I understand, thank you. When installing the new OS and building the “new” NAS out, would I leave the drives out?

Leaving the drives disconnected can help you not choose the wrong drive during installation, but is not a requirement.

Your OS is likely on a SATA DOM.

 

[JWGlide]

OS is on SATA DOM, correct. I'm near the end of this process now. Exported the pool, and set up the machine with v13 of TrueNas. Imported pool again, this was seamless and way easier than I had expected. Thanks for that bit of advice. Spent a while getting things configured the way that I want them and don't seem to be having any issues. I am in the process now of replacing each drive in the pool with larger ones and resilvering. Once I have done this with all 4 drives, does the pool automatically resize itself to reflect the larger capacity disks, or is there a step I need to take to tell the NAS to expand the size of the pool?
Many thanks again for the help.

 

[Davvo]

Glad to hear you got it working. The pool should automatically expand.